


look at the sky tonight (all of those stars have a reason)

by casualmarches



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Apocalypse, and sadness, basically a look into vanya's pov during the og apocalypse, i'm physically unable to write anything but sadness at this point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 15:23:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18967969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casualmarches/pseuds/casualmarches
Summary: It's hard to breathe through the ashes.-When Five crashes into the apocalypse, he never does find Vanya’s body.





	look at the sky tonight (all of those stars have a reason)

**Author's Note:**

> i've had this idea bouncing around my head for most of the day, and i also wanted to finally write a tua fic, so i sat down and just wrote for about three hours. this is the end result. it's kind of all over the place
> 
> the title is from star shopping by lil peep

It’s hard to breathe through the ashes.

Vanya finds Allison first.

Even in death, she is beautiful. Her hair falls across her face, brown and gold curls spilling out behind her, and her eyes are closed. Vanya remembers reading a book, once, that described death as if it was nothing more than a deep sleep, and she can't help but think that that fits. Allison looks more peaceful than she ever did alive.

Luther is near. Vanya cannot bring herself to go to him.

Diego. The crease that had a permanent spot on his forehead is gone now, and he looks still, almost tranquil. It is so different from the Diego she knew, all anger and passion and determination, that she has to look away.

Not far is Klaus.

He lays at an awkward angle, cheek pressed against a rough surface.

_They were both twelve when Klaus began coming into her room._

_Violin touching her chin, Vanya slid the bow across the strings like it was the most natural thing in the world. Beethoven found its way out, and her eyes closed at the soothing calmness of it. A few hiccups here and there, but it was still one of the better run throughs. A more confident person would have called it great._

_Moments later, when the notes came to a quiet end and she opened her eyes, Klaus was there, sitting cross-legged on the floor. She jumped at the sight of him, not having expected anyone, and her mouth opened to stutter out an apology. But Klaus shook his head, holding a hand up. It trembled violently._

_As she looked at him more closely, Vanya could tell something had happened. Klaus’s eyes were wild, moving around the room like he couldn’t figure out where he was. He looked too thin to be healthy, face gaunt, and it wasn’t just his hand shaking. His leg bounced a million times a minute, and his lip wobbled like he was about to break._

_His eyes finally focused on her, pleading._

_She took a deep breath, and started the piece again._

The memory hits her like a ton of bricks, and Vanya stumbles backwards at the weight of it. She can’t be here any longer, not with them. Not with her family.

She runs, taking in the destruction around her with a strange sense of detachment. She runs, ignoring the way her legs shake, the way her lungs burn in protest. She runs as the sky gets darker, night creeping into every part of her. She runs but then she falls, foot catching on something, and she hits the ground hard.

After what feels like days, she takes the little remaining energy she has left to roll over onto her back. Some of the dust has cleared, and if she strains hard enough, she can almost see the glimmer of stars above.

A crazed laugh bubbles up out of Vanya’s lips. It’s half-laugh and half-sob, echoing in the silence, and before she knows it she’s crying. Crying and laughing, tears streaming down her face, making the stars blur, swirl around in her vision. Her heart beats against her chest, working so hard to keep her alive despite the circumstances, and the sound of it roars in her ears until it’s all she can hear.

She does not move again.

-

Later, when Five crashes into the apocalypse, he never does find Vanya’s body. He doesn’t know what she would look like, being so much older, and she never got the tattoo he could spot on the others. He still searches, though, looking through the rubble that used to be home, but he does not find her. He’s not sure if he was expecting to. She would have never tried and stopped this - this _hell,_ because she hadn't been like them. She had been normal. Average.

Ordinary.

Five wipes his brow as he pushes down on the shovel. It is one less person to bury.


End file.
